


this side of the booth

by childofthenight2035



Series: Put Your Glasses On [14]
Category: GOT7, JJ Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Fluff, M/M, music producer!Jaebeom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:09:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24442612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/childofthenight2035/pseuds/childofthenight2035
Summary: "What's the deal with Mark, man?"
Relationships: Im Jaebum | JB/Park Jinyoung
Series: Put Your Glasses On [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685593
Comments: 17
Kudos: 146





	this side of the booth

“Let’s run that back, Vernon, I think you slipped a little, right?” 

Mark watches intently as Jaebeom clicks and presses controls, setting the music a few bars back. Youngjae removes his finger from the talkback button and nods at Jaebeom. As much as Mark calls himself an artist, he admits that he doesn’t have as much experience on this side of the recording booth. 

Jaebeom leans forward and presses the button. “I think ‘my world and my life’ is a mouthful—do you want to try, ah… ‘all of my life’ instead? If it makes it easier?”

Vernon gives him a thumbs up and puts his headphones back on. Jaebeom plays his section of the track again. This time, it flows without a hitch. Satisfied, they record another take and let him out of the booth. 

“Nice one, JB,” Youngjae says, grinning. 

Jaebeom averts his gaze and busies himself with the program on screen. Mark scoots a little closer to him, to watch what he’s doing. 

“You’re really good,” Mark murmurs while Youngjae calls for a break. “You really have an eye for this kind of thing.” Jaebeom flushes and mutters a ‘thank you, it’s my job’ that has Mark frowning. “Take the compliment, man. I mean it.”

Jaebeom saves their progress and turns to him. He can’t very well talk back to him like he does to Youngjae; Mark is older than him and Jaebeom respects that. “I appreciate it, Mark-ssi, I do.”

Mark gestures about the room vaguely. “I don’t even work with you, I literally just came here just for today, but even I can see how well you take care of your colleagues, not just musically. This isn’t just ‘your job’, JB-ssi.” 

Jaebeom looks more awkward with each word that escapes his mouth, and by the end, he’s totally red and nearly ducks under the table to hide his face. Mark already thinks it wouldn’t be so bad to work with him again. 

There’s a knock on the door and Youngjae gets up to answer it. 

“Um, hey—oh,” comes a voice from outside.

“Who are you?” Youngjae asks, confused.

“Ah, never mind, sorry,” says the voice, and Jaebeom sits up straight. “I must have got the wrong room or something—”

“Jackson?” Jaebeom stands up, recognizing the voice of Jinyoung’s best friend. Youngjae glances over at him and pulls the door open wider so he can catch a glimpse of Jackson’s nervous face. 

He lights up. “Jaebeom!” With a nod, Youngjae lets him inside. 

“Hey, Jackson. Youngjae, you remember I said—”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember.” He waves a hand toward the sofa and Jackson takes a seat beside Joshua and Vernon. “Make yourself at home. I hope you don’t want to work with me, too.”

Jaebeom furrows his eyebrows and looks up at him. “What do you mean?”

Jackson is also puzzled. “Huh?”

“We’re usually a team, JB and I,” Youngjae explains. “I don’t know if you came here hoping for both of us, but I won’t be available for a while after we finish this project with these guys.” He gives Jaebeom a meaningful glance. _Oh, right,_ he recalls, _his ‘vacation’._

“Oh, right, Jackson, this is Joshua and Vernon,” Jaebeom introduces hastily. “You must have heard of them—?” 

“Of course,” he says, giddily shaking hands with Joshua and fist-bumping Vernon. “Who hasn’t?”

“And this is Mark,” Jaebeom adds, gesturing to the man sitting next to him. “He’s featuring in a couple of their tracks.”

“Oh,” Jackson breathes. “Hello.” He hears Youngjae snort in the background. 

Job done, Jaebeom turns back to his computer, half-expecting Mark to continue asking questions about it, but instead he’s met with silence. He tilts his head a bit to see Mark staring fixedly at the sofa, more specifically, at Jackson. His ears are flaming red. Jaebeom can almost see the heat rising off them.

Oh. _Oh._

He presses his lips together tightly to not laugh. “Mark?” 

No response. He kicks the leg of his chair. Mark jolts. “Huh? Yeah?” Jaebeom is smirking at him and Mark looks embarrassed. 

“Didn’t you want to know how this works?” 

“What? Oh. Right. Yeah.”

_Oh my god,_ he thinks. _This is hopeless. They literally just met._

Jaebeom walks Mark through the program he uses on his computer and the different controls they use while recording; he’s not even sure Mark is listening. He can hear Youngjae and the other two talking to Jackson and for a moment, he feels bad for ignoring him. But work first. Besides, from the way they’re all laughing, Jackson’s doing okay by himself.

“Um. JB?”

“Yep.”

“Is—is Jackson your friend? Or—”

“He’s my boyfriend’s best friend.”

“Oh. Okay. Um. Do you know if he likes—”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. Um, is he—”

“Yep. As far as I know.”

“Alright.” 

Jaebeom wants to laugh at the expression on Mark’s face. “Hey. I think maybe you should like, take a break. Maybe go home and pull yourself together. Jackson’s gonna be around a while, we’re thinking of collaborating.” Mark nods absently. 

Jaebeom eyes Youngjae, grin tugging at his mouth and Youngjae nods at him. 

“Let’s call it a day, yeah?”

-

Youngjae zips up his bag, gleeful that he’s leaving before Jaebeom is, and claps Jackson on the back. “I sure am sorry that I can’t work with you, dude, you’re so much fun to hang out with. Ah, well. I’ll see you around.”

Jackson waves cheerily as he leaves. Jaebeom clears his throat. ready to get to business. He’s already shot Jinyoung a text telling him that he won’t make it to gym that day and made sure that his sister was picking the kid up. 

“Alright, Jackson, we can—!” He breaks off with a yelp when Jackson grabs his shoulders and shakes him, a wild look in his eyes. 

“What’s the deal with Mark?”

He barks out a laugh. “Are you kidding me? You _just_ met him.”

“Does the why and the how matter right now?”

Jaebeom pries his hands off him. “I dunno, man, he’s Joshua’s friend from LA. He’s featuring in this project, I thought I said that.”

Jackson tsks. “Not _that_ deal, I mean, is he single?”

_From the way he was stargazing, I’d say he is,_ he thinks, but remains quiet. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

He pouts. “When will I even see him again?”

Jaebeom shrugs, turning away so he doesn’t give himself away. 

“Tomorrow.”

**Author's Note:**

> ehehe i wonder how long they're going to dance around each other...with jackson involved, i'd say not as long as jjp


End file.
